219. WILLIAM BLAKE: A Poison Tree

William Blake (1757-1827) was illustrating poems hundreds of years before me. A struggling poet, artist and print-maker, unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered one of the most important figures in English literature. A Poison Tree first appeared in his Songs of Experience collection in 1794. Here’s his original piece.

I’ve done so many inspirational comics … that it’s hard not to repeat myself. After my recent bunch of comics focusing on creativity I felt like doing something different and this poem has been on my mind for awhile. Reader Jen emailed it to me years ago and I had no idea how to adapt it, so I kept it in my “to-do” file. Cut to about a month ago and I saw that Rose McGowan tweeted the poem with no explanation amidst the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal. That gave me a direction on how I could adapt the poem. And then a horrific story broke in my home town of Perth about a father who farmed his daughter out to be sexually abused by various men which made me so angry and turned the comic even darker. I know this might be jarring for some readers. It’s not uplifting, inspirational or zen, but it’s a story that came out of me that I felt compelled to draw.

Wow. Dark and disturbing. Not until reading the comments and looking at it on something larger than my phone did I pick up on the ‘sexual abuse’ aspect. I too prefer to go from darkness into light, but sometimes dark things need to be said.

It took me a second read as well which then made me realize that that may have been the intent…that something can be going on right in front of us, and it goes unnoticed. If only life allowed for a second read…

This is extraordinarily powerful. Thank you for sharing, and for the message within the message…

This made me feel really uncomfortable reading it, and brought back my dark pessimism about the world after. I know it’s supposed to be a lesson, but as a long time reader, I’m disappointed. I don’t come here to be reminded about how much the world sucks, and how dark reality can be. The art is great as usual, but I needed a boost today and instead I’m worse than before reading this. I’m against censorship and for free expression, but maybe this was too dark to post online.

That’s what I took from this. Like the women in RL that are feeling brave enough to come forward & talk about it they are not letting it fester like the woman in the cartoon did. By supporting them & listening to them & letting them have their voice they can hopefully help them heal instead of being subject to someone elses evil festering inside them.

This is more true to life, and true to nature, than you know. And exactly because of the mindset that this type of thing is “too dark to post online”, do victims remain silent, and predators can continue acting in darkness. It is incredibly important now, with everything that is coming forward from sexual assault survivors, for us to allow space and light for the truth. I applaud Gav for remaining true to the artist’s calling, which is to serve the Muse, not the audience.

My understanding, based on etymology, is that the word “Zen” is derived from the Chinese word “chán” and the sanskrit word “dhyana,” which mean “meditation.” In sanskrit, the root meaning is “to see, to observe, to look.”

I live in Alabama, born and raised, and I’m watching a similar drama unfold in my home state involving Roy Moore. Luckily, nothing as extreme as the cartoon has happened, but it is opening some eyes to how a predator operates. My state is facing dark times right now, but I always have hope and faith, because darkness does not last forever. The light will shine; it may take a while sometimes, but the light will shine.

Thank you, Gav, for your illustration and quote. There is darkness in every one of us, but without that darkness, how can we appreciate the light?

Thank you for drawing this and sharing it. I understand the commenters who weren’t expecting it and were perhaps disappointed by it, because it is so different than what we’ve come to expect. Perhaps a brief message or heads up (trigger warning I guess they call it?) prior to the comic would have been better, rather than after. Nevertheless, thank you for drawing and sharing. It’s needed.

Wow! I only saw the first half of the poem (up until the team photo) in Feedly and initially thought that the coach was talking to her about fighting. It wasn’t till I read it again and thought”Oh God” as I realised what was actually happening.
When I came to your site to add a comment, I then saw the rest and, well, Wow!
Thank you for all of your work!

The girl was sexually abused by her coach, she didn’t have the courage to stand up to him in her teens; the anger builds up to a point of no return, so she kills him in order free herself from the clutches of past.

you can take what you like, express the anger immediately and let it go away. (or) keep the anger inside it consumes you and/or people around you

Sad comic but luckily I have a easy solution to any sad news or events that make them seem less sad.
There are so many people around these days that feeling sad for every single human tragedy is an impossible feat.
Therefore it is much more manageable to measure sadness by the amount of people being affected by horrible events.

Anything below 10k: more of a statistic than a tragedy, no need to be sad.
Anything over 10k: incomprehensible amount of tragedy for one person, no point to be sad.

Did this handy scale make you feel better?
If yes: Good for you, go on with your happy day while you still have time.
If no: well, if you want to waste your limited existence feeling sad then it is you decision and I’ll respect that.

I’m sure I’ve read more condescending patronization toward sexual abuse survivors, but right now this one puts them all in the dust.

“I was 14 years old, and sexuality was still a confusing mystery, the line between the physical affections of childhood and adult sexual advances still fuzzy. Later, turning over our conversation in my mind, I knew that Coach’s explanation was dead wrong. But his power to convince me, if only for a moment, shamed and frightened me.”

You’re the reason children who’ve been raped by people they trust don’t come forward.

I don’t know what most of the words you used meant but I’m guessing you didn’t like the my handy “Relative misery scale (trademark pending)”.

Maybe you thought this method was only applicable to child abuse but you’d be wrong: It can be applied to ANY form of human misery.

Did a pandemic wipe out a whole community somewhere?
Did someone lose a loved one to a freak accident?
Did a whole ethnic group of people get “relocated” from an area to make room for a soft-drink factory?
Use the scale and you’ll feel better about it.
If this clarification didn’t make you feel any better then I must refer you to the scale’s “no” option.

Have a nice day and remember:
“Things could be better but they can always be worse”
Eric Idle, 1998.

Your comment made me feel angry, and I’d like to explain why. I can apply your scale to any tragedy, and it doesn’t make me feel better. Because, when I hear of sad news, regardless of how many people it impacts, I don’t want to make it seem less sad. Feeling sad isn’t a waste to me. Rather, it’s a part of being human. Everyone knows pain and misery, regardless of whether it could be worse or not. Regardless of how bad it actually is, a person’s pain is very real to them. You can’t just make it go away with logic, or measurement, or scales, because people are human. You can only sympathize with them and do your best to help.
You’re right, my existence is very limited. So is yours, and everyone’s. I want to experience everything I can, which includes sadness, and despair. Any life without those isn’t one worth living. I know I won’t be able to understand even a tiny fraction of what’s out there, but, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
I’m not trying to attack you. I’m just saying that I disagree with you, and I don’t think your “scale” solves any problems. Thank you for reading.

“You can’t just make it go away with logic, or measurement, or scales, because people are human”
On the contrary: you can use said tools to transmute misery into numbers and numbers are never sad(some are even funny such as 530453080).

You see, I am a strong believer in that happiness is a choice.
As our time on this world is limited, choosing to be unhappy instead of happy sounds odd to me. I do understand that this choice might be difficult to some so I came up with “Relative misery scale (trademark pending)” to help people be as happy as me.

Sure: one can choose to be sad about a thing that’s beyond their control over in this absurd world of ours but I just don’t see the point in it. If there is nothing to be done about it, one shouldn’t worry about it.
If they do worry but don’t want to, they should use my handy scale to notice the silliness of their thinking and feel happy.
After all: life is about maximizing ones own happiness.

Hopefully this clarification made you feel better,
If not, I must refer you to the scale’s “no” option.

You said that choosing to be unhappy instead of happy sounds odd. Let me explain my view of things.

I don’t see a problem with experiencing sadness. Some things are sad. Some things make me sad, and that’s okay. That’s how life is. There are good things and there are bad things. I’ll die having known both. In light of this, I don’t want to be as happy as you are all of the time. To me, that seems like an existence which is missing something.

You’re right, there are many things that I can’t do anything about. But I can still feel for the suffering of other people. That doesn’t make me an unhappy person. That makes me a person who understands the sadness of others.

Also, I don’t want to create more clutter on this comment board: I’ve made an email which you can email me from if you’d like: mainsel163@gmail.com

Happiness is very often a choice. It is also very often the wrong choice. I choose not to feel happy about things that should make me feel sad, because it is important to feel negative emotions. Negative emotions are not problems, they are basic, essential elements of being a living, changing person. Being sad or upset about something is what motivates me to make the world a better place for myself and others.

Don’t forget: without sadness, there is often no happiness, either, because when there is no contrast between good and bad, everything is the same. There have to be valleys for peaks to exist.

Obviously not a bright story, but in life there’s dark and light, black and white, and all the colors in between. From my point of view acknowledging this kind of situations is really brave from you, Gav. My heart stopped in the last strip, made me go back, check all the details… really good job.

I’m sorry some people are disappointed, please put your expectations away and be able to appreciate what Gav did. Thanks for raising awareness about these issues!

Being zen is being able to stay with what is pleasant and unpleasant, let’s be more zen and open. Let’s become responsible for our feelings, thoughts and reactions.

I’m sorry to say I don’t like this one. It’s lovingly drawn as always, the quote is terrific, and I do like a vast majority of your previous work.

My problem is that child molestation is such an universally outraging thing, it detracts from the subtlety and … well poesy, of the poem. It’s like eating a fine delicate dish side by side with a pizza hut pizza.

I also feel it goes against the idea of the poem, which essentially says that by holding onto (some of) your feelings, you hurt yourself while your foe benefits. I is a bitter thing to behold — I feel like the feely goody REVENGE! conclusion does not fit at all.

In Blake’s poem, the tree is grown in poison, producing fruit which will be poisonous. Blake does this purposefully as he tells his foe of the tree purposefully. So that, knowing his foe’s mind, his foe will attempt to steal and eat the fruit. Thus, his foe’s outstretched and dead body is under the tree in the morning. The comic is true to the poem in every aspect.

She was the fruit of a poisoned seed planted by the coach. Even in returning to see him and wearing a tiny red dress to assure she would gain entry, she knew his mind. When he is outstretched in the morning, it is because he reaped the fruit of a tree he helped to grow.

Having read both Blake’s “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” (the latter of which this poem comes from) I agree with the assessment that this is, in no way, a feel-good ending. H James has a solid interpretation- Blake didn’t look at the world as one in which innocence could be retained, but rather that the world would deteriorate it and destroy it through experience.

I would recommend reading both collections- some of the poems are directly paired, that in Experience a direct response to it’s partner in Innocence. But do read a set that includes images of the carved and hand-coloured plates in which the poems were printed. The illustrations contribute to the meaning of the text, which is woven into the image. No two original copies of Blake’s collections are the same- he hand printed each.

It’s hard to tell in the last panel because the photos are so small, but in the fourth to last panel, in the other two team photos, just like the one from her year, all the girls on the team are smiling except for one girl standing next to him.

His T-Shirt does not bear the word COACH in the second and third drawings – when he seems to have asked her to stay back as other girls leave and when he looks at her as they are alone. Was that done to highlight her distrust and fear for she sees him as the perpetrator he is?

I think that might have been the point. This is not a tale about simple revenge. By being so deliberate and frank about it, as well as how the expressions are drawn, it speaks to me of a person who let a terrible thing that happened to her fester in silence (instead of telling someone, reporting it, getting the guy put away, receiving therapy, etc) for so long that she herself began to rot.

Both acts committed here are unspeakable, deplorable things. It may be seen as retribution, but that does not change the fact that two crimes were committed.

An amazing comic, but I agree with what others have said here. Gav, it would be greatly appreciated if you put a warning somewhere at the top of the comic.

@Onryo: GET FUCKED. When crimes go unpunished that’s an equally great crime to rape and/or murder… You Leftist/Rightist Shit stuffed crania want for there to be an anarchy where there are NO LAWS. IT DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT. Thanks to SJWs we are headed to place very much like that, except the laws are for the oppressed ONLY, and no one else. NO THANKS. Before you call me a whiner or bleater about LAWS, think about the fact that BLM, Feminists et al are demanding and getting GREATER Protection under and From the Law than others… Also, BLM is calling for the deaths of Police Officers… You Think About That!

Hot damn, that’s a lot of different societal problems stuffed in one justifiably angry comment.

Maybe you’d feel better if you applied the “Relative misery scale (trademark pending)” to them.
The “Relative misery scale’s (or RMS for short)” usefulness lies in it’s ingenious flexibility: not only can it be used to transform misery into much more manageable form, it can also be applied to injustice as well.

Just count the amount of injustices that make you feel sad/angry and apply the following scale.

Anything below 10k: more of a statistic than injustice, no need to be sad.
Anything over 10k: incomprehensible amount of injustice for one person, no point to be sad.
Did this handy scale make you feel better?
If yes: Good for you, go on with your happy day while you still have time.
If no: well, if you want to waste your limited existence feeling sad then it is you decision and I’ll respect that.

Gav you are growing as an artist..your expressions are powerful and important. You grabbed us all today! Excellent work! Some of us had to go back and take a second or third look..to see more, to “get it”. I can’t give you higher praise…

Bold and controversial, very dark, very grim and difficult subject matter. I really appreciate that you went here in this direction. It takes a certain amount of bravery to try to make something like this in our time and given the nature of your work before.

I can’t wait to see where you go with this – not that everything needs to be grim and dark, but that your exploration of the grim and dark will start to mix in with your light-hearted material and create stuff that is even more nuanced and beautiful. Keep at it! Always a pleasure!

It’s Beautiful. The more I read it, the more fleshing-out details I notice & the more beautiful it grows.

Reminds me of Nemesis – “she who follows in your footsteps”. How she punishes transgressions committed with hubris, transgressions committed by predators with the knowledge that they can’t be caught, and how she punishes transgressions via the vessel/means by which said transgressions were committed. Now that he’s dead, his true legacy will emerge & destroy the one that he took so much pride in, was the mechanism by which he committed and covered his transgressions, and the one he worked so hard to build. The same silence that allowed Coach Johnson – I see what you did there, Mr. Than – is the same silence that provides cover for approach, her retribution & her escape.

Wow. This one IS a lot darker than your other works. It’s every bit as good as the other ones though,and deserves to be seen with them. There are so many tiny things in this one. The apple necklace she wears to the final meeting, the unsmiling girls in the other photos on his wall, the look on his face, along with his snake tattoo as he first touches her. I really think you’ve hit a new level of maturity in your work with all those little things.

It is dark, and difficult to read. Sometimes though, reflection/meditation requires that we travel through some dark places. The poor girl reminds me of the lines from Yeats’ “Easter, 1916”: “Too long a sacrifice/Can make a stone of the heart./O when may it suffice?” I really think this might be one of your best works, Gav.

Wow. That was tough. I’m glad you did it. I also think the people who are upset by the murder at the end are maybe missing the many, many other panels that came before it. It’s a fictional story, not a proposal or statement of desire. It’s art. And if you don’t like that art imitates life, then stop looking at one of those things.

You spoke a truth about a real problem. Like all truthful art, it will create discomfort. You don’t own that discomfort; your audience does. Pain creates growth, whether we will it or not. Please carry on. You rock.

This is an excellent and brilliant post. It’s both subtle and powerful.
I’m glad you posted it. First because I think that sometimes you have to go through the darkness to get to the light. And second because I hope that adults who see this will be more available to young people who might be going through something like this (or even a hard time, like being bullied) so that young people will open up to trusted adults. And for kids, I hope they see this and have the courage to tell someone what is happening to them.
If you can inspire even one person to do something positive in this situation, then it’s you, Gav, who is the inspirational folk, not only William Blake. 🙂

As a survivor of sexual abuse I know the impulse to kill. This comic (sic) illustrates what I have come to understand, SILENCE =DEATH (to borrow a phrase for the AIDS crisis. RIP Keith Cylar). If I had not sought counseling and worked on telling my truth I might have hurt someone also. I have worked in Prisons with a multitude of men who were sexually abused. I have worked with women who are survivors of rape and sexual abuse. The epidemic ids huge. But instead of looking to support the survivors we publicize the prepetrators. Please listen to those who have been the victims of these horrible crimes and let them be heard before they hurt others or themselves.

I too had to re-read it when I got to the last picture. And the story was there, only that I wasn’t seeing it the first time, because I wasn’t ready for it. I suppose it happens with real life victims: you don’t see their story until the last picture if you are not ready to understand it. Then it may be too late.

Poetry and art are not meant to always make sense. The idea that we can always wrap everything up into easily digestible, microwave heated meals of truth is a fallacy.

Things don’t always make sense. Everything doesn’t work out well. The point I got from this comic was that the evil the coach visited on the girl came back on him in the end and both lives were forever damaged by it. I don’t think it justified either side-it just expressed the nature of evil realistically and reinforced that victims should be taken seriously and given the opportunity to speak up.

Never apologize for bringing light to a dark subject… art should always be a voice for the voiceless and reflect the times we are living in. And, yes Gav, make no mistake: it IS inspiring in its raw and cautionary tone. Well done!

As an abuse survivor myself, I have to say, do not take this as a sign that murder is allowable. The bastard’s not worth going to jail for. He belongs in jail, not you. Jail tends to be an abusive environment too. Keep yourself out of there. Now is the time to speak. People are finally listening, and abusers are getting penalized. Express anger and take action in legal ways. I believe you can.

Thank you for your art and contributions in this world. I think you did the subject justice in your style and way. Your comic tells such a complex story and illustrates the feelings of the characters most sincerely. The confusion, anger, and shame of the little girl. The anger of the grown woman. And the constant smile on the predator who is getting what he wants… Wow! Knowing the context, I love how you illustrate how the predator can continue their abuse unchecked for decades while their victims suffer in silence. I could really see the thought and care you put into this project and I love it. Bravo!

I’ve been following your work for years now and have been moved by every single comic you produce. Thank you for your magnificent work! I look forward to seeing what you produce next, as always. *HUG*

The measure of an artist lies in the risks she or he is willing to take to illuminate the truth.

Bravo.

This was a great comic. Not safe. Not light. But gritty and provides expression to a dysfunction that afflicts society so deeply. Until someone has experienced this they cannot understand. But you understood perfectly.

Revenge is justice not sanctioned by the state but it is still justice. Sometimes the justice systems fail abuse survivors very greatly. No one can judge what this lady went through. It must’ve been horrific as no sane, whole individual would ever resort to such an act. To her, it was the only way to regain her power that was stolen from her when she has been trusting, young and vulnerable.

This is dark. My experience with sexual assault was when I was in kindergarten, it involved a certain family member so I didn’t tell anyone about it. But I am unfortunately old enough to remember it. I am 38 now.. So you can imagine how such things affect people.

This caught my eye too.
I just wonder if it was absolutely necessary though… Yes it does help the reader ‘get it’ but I think most readers would ‘get it’ without it too…
Why demonize snakes by employing them as signifiers of evil?
Snakes aren’t evil, or sexual predators, they’re just doing their own snake thing, living their snake lives…
I enjoy Zen Pencils, but this unthinking use of snake = evil is disappointing.

With all that said, even that small blemish doesn’t take away from what is great comic. Thank you for sharing. ^_____^

Compare The Poison Tree with Blake’s other Poem The Human Abstract, also with a tree and growing fruit, but a very different outcome.

Gavin’s work here captures Blake’s intended message exactly; nurse that hurt that fear and destruction will be extreme… in other words, The World is Suffering and Do Not Form Attachments (especially negative attachments. Let It Go.)

Beautifully, exquisitely done. Thank you for your creativity. Thank you for your perception. Thank you for your bravery.

Wow! What an amaizing choice! Zen is not only peace and creativity, is how each one decide to deal with their own issues, even wrath (I told my wrath, my wrath did end, I told it not, my wrath did grow), even when it came from something so horrible as abuse

A new style for you, though not so different from drawing a dead dragon at the end as well. Either way, you, as an artist, have a responsibility to make us think, not to make us happy.

Your comics I prefer are not the ones which easily say “be happy, be great” but those that make me think about how, what, why I can be great. What demons I should overcome, fear, resentment, writer’s block.

This time the demon, the coach, is killed, literally. I would have liked to see some subtlety, some indirect vanquishing. Does she kill her demon by going public? Does she find a lover and let go of the past? Poetic justice is possible in poems.

I like coming to zen pencils to think, not just to smile, keep it up 🙂

Gav, this. is. awesome. There is a novel by a South African woman called “It’s me, Anna” where the perpetrator is her father, but it ends the same way…. powerful, upsetting, but very relevant. I always take something positive out of your work, and the message here, for me, is to raise my children to not become victims or perpetrators of such atrocities.

Stongly themed strip. Nice work. In my humble opinion this one also presents retalliation and taking law in your hands a solution. Although I believe that was not original intention but it can easily be misunderstood. Art immitates life but sometimes life immitates art.

Just wanted to say that I always enjoy getting your emails and seeing your Facebook posts. You produce brilliant work. And posting this comic took courage – hard for you to depict too, I suspect.
don’t let anyone make you feel bad for expressing something painful! This is your site and content and you did warn us all.
Looking forward to future comics – big fan ?

I did not understand at first reading, I had to read it again to get it. And it painfully reflects the reality : nobody saw what was happening to her, nobody saw the evil face of a seemingly wonderful and dedicated coach. Until the end. Until it was too late.
Misunderstanding at first reading totally makes sense and makes the message even more powerful. Great job.

An outstanding lesson in our need as a society to look closer for the signs that abuse is happening, and being hidden or overlooked. We can all offer support by helping stop abuse and preventing it from continuing in the future. For all those with the courage to speak out, I believe you. For those unable to voice their pain, I believe you too.

Thank you Gav, for sharing this powerful work with us (and as another Perthite, for your rage on behalf of this young girl).

Amazing!! Thank you so much for your ability to connect the written word to something contemporary. While it took me a few times to read and critically think about what it all meant, it made me think!! Once again you have produced an amazing piece of art.

Uncomfortable, though provoking and one of the most moving Zenpencils I have read so far. Write and draw to what you believe Gavin, your unique voice should be used the way you want it to be heard. This is one of you best pieces I have ever seen on this website.

Dearest Gav,
Your earlier cartoons always reflected what happened or what a person should do(ie what was right). They were lessons for kids, family, friends and so on.
Due to this I had shared this link for cartoons to multiple people.
This new turn in storytelling, took me by surprise and am shocked.
Well the cartoons are good, bright and crisp. But the messaging could have been different and more impactful(positively)
Wanted to share my thoughts with you.
Best Regards.

Gav, most of your comics give me s warm feeling or make me sit back and think. This is the first one that made me yell “Holy $#!%!” I immediately saved it, in fear that negative opinions may lead to it’s removal. I truly think this may be your best work yet. The story is beautifully done, as no sex or violence is actually shown. The character’s rage is captured so perfectly, and it’s truly heartbreaking. Thank you for going outside your — and a lot your readers’ — comfort zone, because you’ve truly shown a huge leap from your earlier work. There can be no light without the dark, and I applaud you for delivering a comic that isn’t so light. Excellent work, man. This is my new favorite.

OMG! I have to read it a few times to understand it… Though my subconscious did it right away… I feel wierd while reading it… I am not that into revenge but People that do does kind of sexual crimes sicken me… I totally Would aprove to be dealt with them like that… You make me think as always. Thanks.

Gav, you did a great job with the drawing, the symbolism that you included, and overall with the comic aspect. As an Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse with over 15 years of proactive healing/work with trained experienced professionals behind me, my reaction is multi-layered (multi-dimensional). First, YAY! Thank you for helping expand the awareness of this topic and for helping to keep it in our collective conscious. We all need to keep bringing it to the consciousness. Second, this is one interpretation of abuse by someone who appears to not have experienced abuse. Do not take it literally and as the sole example of what you believe abuse is or of a victims’ response to abuse. There are many different scenarios and circumstances of childhood sexual abuse, and victims have many and varied reactions to it. In a simple form of childhood sexual abuse as portrayed in this comic it is a complex event for the victim. A more complex form of childhood sexual abuse (multiple abusers, violence, threats of death, father or mother directly involved, etc.) the event becomes even more complex, and even more complex if the amygdala brain dissociates the consciousness from the body and no conscious memory of the abuse is available. This comic is a great starting place for bringing the issue to the consciousness, but it is only a starting place. If every adult that sexually abused a child were murdered by their victim/victims there would be many fewer adults (men and women) in this world.

Hey everyone, thanks for all the feedback. Appreciate you giving me leeway to try different things and sometimes move away from the “cartoon quotes from inspirational folks”. Although that will always be the overall theme of the website, after nearly six years, it’s good to know I have the choice to explore different ideas. Thank you to those abuse victims who have commented or sent me an email, really means a lot to me. – G

Really beautifully expressed Gav. I really feel the rawness of emotion, the coldness of the revenge. It is moving, and dark, and beautiful. I really appreciated, and even related to it.

I studied Blake in high school, and knowing a little more of the context of the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience might be helpful to new readers. In a nutshell, they explored the naivete of innocence in childhood being shattered by the darker truth of experience. Importantly, Blake believed that there was a step after being jaded by a dark reality; that it was possible to discover an enlightened experience. This was essentially recognising that the world is indeed dark and innocence cannot be restored, but that it is also a beautiful place full of hope in spite of it’s cruelty.

Going to guess this is the first comic that actually has ever made you sit down and think. If you felt uncomfortable it shows you what a storyteller Gav has become and that all stories do not have a happy ending. In the end it will be you missing out, no one else. Good luck with your life journey.

This is the first of his comics where the use of murder as a legitimate means to solve problems is so explicit, without bad consequences or repercussions. It is even cathartic. This is whats a problem for me. I feel this is irresponsible, especially considering the vulnerability of victims and the official purpose of the website.

This is a very powerful piece and it’s taken my attention for much longer, and for more re-reads, than your other work.

When I was quite young I was sexually abused by a neighbor. I left that town as a teenager and didn’t go back until I was a middle aged adult. By then I’d had many years of work in dealing with the abuse that I’d gone through.

When I did visit I was standing in the main street and somebody asked if I needed help to find something. I said I used to live there and was on a memory trip for the weekend. So the person told me what had happened to the various businesses along the street – some remained and others had changed.

In the course of that conversation he mentioned the name of my abuser and how he had died a hopeless alcoholic at his own hand. It was the first time in my life that hearing of somebody’s death made me feel glad and free.

Those feelings were quite confronting for me, but they allow me to appreciate what you have done with Blake’s poem in a deep way.

i saw it right away, the little nuances you added without needing to say anything – very well done. It didnt escape my notice that in every one of those photos is one blank face in a see a smiles… Inspiration and hope is wonderful but showing the darkness is needed too. yin and yang

Or you could be inspired to not let this happen to anyone by looking out for abuse and demanding that child abusers be held accountable, or that sex crimes either have longer or no statute of limitation. Do your best to stop the blame-the-victim mentality that keeps abuse from coming to light until it is too late to do anything about it.

Take this as a crystal ball moment.

You should be inspired to fight for the victim so they don’t feel the need for vigilante justice.

Ending this year, I play a rol in a theater demonstration. In my previous roles, I studied a lot for what were the customs or habits of my characters. This year was very hard, as I play as a drunken angry father that, one of the main reasons people really hated this character on the firsts representations, is because he is the one who abuses his only female child.
I studied a lot, looked a lot of movies and documents about the subject, the reasons why the rapists do it — what do they accomplish. Their mind is pure dark, and to avoid to show that, they put themselves behind a mask. For having a weird sense pride as they could do anything and get away with it, or an obsessed twisted mind, or an obscure guilt, they hide.
This mask could be anything, from a drunk angry man in a very poor neighborhood, to a common smiling gym coach.

I hope the abuse victims reading this comic can keep going on and live their lives peacefully.

And thanks Gav, since this gives me yet another approach to the matter.

I’m glad you from step outside again from the subjects you usually do. I mean, it’s not that you started now, you already did it before in some cases as far as I remember (even in the beginning, checking back the one called: “On assassination” — it’s strong). Life isn’t always color of the roses, looking it in a rose colored way won’t stop showing the parts of darkness it holds.

Couple of notes, both of which are subject to adjustment should further information about the intent of the creator be made express:

1) I like the change of clothes from entry to exit of the home – red dress to white shirt and jeans. It echos the Western symbolism of being stained with the world and being washed clean of its sins, as it implies that she has confronted the abuser and washed herself of the pain that she carried inside.

1) I see nothing in this comic that confirms homicide. I see that the woman entered and then exited. I see an indicator that the abuser is dead. I see many, many, comments that assume homicide, which is tragic. Why couldn’t he have committed suicide in response to one of various other outcomes – lawsuit, guilt upon confrontation – or simply be now stained with the same pain that she carried but metaphorically unable to cope as she was for many years.

The straight assumption to vigilante violence committed by the woman in the comic speaks volumes about our society’s current drive to anger and crucifixion on mere allegation or association.

As a woman, I very fast understood the feeling of this, I was confused as to why it started feeling dark & why it seemed like she was a victim of rape. I am surprised many readers did not see this quickly. And this is how it reflects real life & real effects — or not effects at all (given that some people are oblivious of the sexual abuse conveyed here). I do think a trigger warning before the read is necessary. Someone who had suffered from sexual abuse reading this might suffer from PTSD. That was insensitive. — overall, thanks for sharing your art & creation. but really rude to not include a trigger warning.

This is a stunning depiction of the poem and I’m so glad (as a woman) to see this reflected on one of my favorite blogs. I got it right away when he cupped her cheek and the panel where he had his hands on her shoulder. That sort of talent, where something so grave can be implied and yet be so obvious is revolutionary.

Say what you like about that guy but man he gets results, in 30 years he’s won 15 state championships, which is a phenomenonal haul. To put this in perspective the most successful high school sports team is Mercer Island in Washington state with an impressive 67 state championships in its 60 year history, hell the 4th most successful in Lynden (also Washington) with a mere 23 titles. Given the dozens of sports programs provided for both gender at high school, this man is the most successful high school coach in the USA and possibly one of the greatest coaches in world sports history. Clearly I’m not condoning his behaviour but his methods clearly got results and it’s a shame he couldn’t have shared his knowledge to a wider audience, truely we lost a sporting great.

Well, isn’t that the point? His success and likely popularity as a result were probably one of the reasons those girls never came forward. The same reason it took so long for women to come forward about successful actors and directors in Hollywood. It’s the belief that no one will listen to you and think you are just grabbing for attention, along with the fear and self-blame, that keeps many women from coming forward.

Wow Gav This is should be in your Best of list. It was very subtle at first where I missed what was going on. But that was the point. I real life we miss, ignore, or Don’t understand what is going on.
In Every picture there is one of his victims
I know one thing if I was called to jury duty for her case I couldn’t convict.

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I like this comic. It’s not happy. In many ways, the fact that the girl was driven to murder is also pretty sad, though many may see it as justice and I don’t blame them. Seeing such a powerful comic about an experience many women are put through, and what staying silent out of fear does to people, I think you did good.

This still fits the description of “inspirational cartoons from inspirational quotes” or whatever the correct order of that wording may be. It should inspire people to take action so that this stops happening in real life. If this disturbed you and you feel this shouldn’t have been posted, or you live a live where you have never been in this girl’s shoes, then I am either very sorry for your own pain/experiences or feel you are a very lucky person to have never known this kinda abuse in any form.

Many times the statute of limitations is up by time a victim finally comes forward or there is not anyone to stand by the victim, and possible new victims are still too hurt, damaged, or ashamed to come forward… so what other ending is there possible in a world and court system that blames the victim/child like in the Roy Moore case.

This should inspire you to speak for the victim… instead of passively living and accepting a world where this is okay and where people ask if a 12 year old girl was “asking for it.”

It took me a second read as well which then made me realize that that may have been the intent…that something can be going on right in front of us, and it goes unnoticed. If only life allowed for a second read…

Thank you for sharing the comic. It’s so sad to see the story. I confused with the story at first, I didn’t think about “that”. Sexual harassment is always a big matter, I hope every girl could be strong, there are many people support you. You are not alone! It’s not your fault!!

Gav – this was brilliant. Eerily, I just happened to read about and watch the testimonies of some of the girls in the USA Gymnastics case yesterday regarding Larry Nasser and was able to quickly spot where you were going with this because of that. An absolute gem in your beautiful portfolio. Thank you for all that you do.

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Gavin, this gave me goosebumps and I cannot get over how craftily you have weaved Blake’s piece into a story. I am SO impressed and SO in love with it; can’t stop thinking about the imagery you just created. Kudos to you for touching modern-day themes like these, and for introducing us to brilliant poets like him. You’re brilliant yourself.

Gavin,
Thank you for the courage to bring this to our awareness. It is indeed a poison if you let it just go and not resolving it.
It is not only about sexual harrasmant, it is harrasment of any kind.
Unfortunately, some of us have to experience it. And let it seed inside for a long long time.
I see some readers become uncomfortable reading the comic. However, uncomfotable to face a fact is normal. Being aware about this is important. In the end the real destroyer of your life is the poinson tree that you have grown. Please seek if you experience this and notice that you starting to seed the anger in you.

I have wondered what I would have done to my childhood abuser if he hadn’t died in a car accident before I became an adult. Despite him being dead, I still had a lot of anger for him in my 20’s.
This strip really conveys the the feelings.

great work, i’m especially impressed by the silent implication of the last panel’s photos and the subtle details like the snake tattoo and the coach ageing with the photos. can’t help but wonder if maybe a content warning would have been appropriate though.